Teen pleads no contest to rape

Deal gives Sylvania student, 17, 2 years at youth center

Kei’ron Toyer, 17, with his mother, Ebony Toyer, listens to the sentencing proceedings in Lucas County Juvenile Court. The Sylvania Southview student pleaded no contest to rape.

THE BLADE/AMY E. VOIGT

Kei’ron Toyer, 17, with his mother, Ebony Toyer, listens to the sentencing proceedings in Lucas County Juvenile Court. The Sylvania Southview student pleaded no contest to rape.

Kei’ron Toyer hardly said a word.

Even when acknowledging Judge Connie Zemmelman, as the Sylvania Southview High School student pleaded no contest to rape Wednesday morning, he barely spoke above a whisper.

“I’m praying for you,” a woman shouted inside the packed courtroom as deputies took the teen back to detention. “All things are possible with God.”

As part of a plea agreement, the 17-year-old will spend at least two years in the Department of Youth Services, specifically at the Lighthouse Youth Center at Paint Creek.

A kidnapping charge against the teen was dropped in court. The plea included an agreement that the state would not attempt to certify the Toyer youth as an adult if he pleaded no contest.

The teen and schoolmate Emmanuell Quinn, 15, were both found delinquent in Lucas County Juvenile Court by Judge Zemmelman for their respective roles in the rape of a 15-year-old girl, also a Southview student, at Olander Park on Sept. 16.

Assistant Lucas County Prosecutor Lori Olender, who oversees the juvenile division, outlined what witnesses and the victim would have said had the case gone to trial.

The victim was walking home from school on Sept. 16 when she and a friend were met by the two suspects.

The victim went into the men’s restroom at Olander Park with the Quinn youth “to make out,” leaving the Toyer youth and the victim’s friend outside, Ms. Olender said.

The Toyer youth went into the restroom and peered into the stall where the victim and Quinn youth were.

After he refused to leave, the Quinn youth opened the stall door for the Toyer youth, who told the victim, “You’re going to lose your virginity.”

“No, I’m not,” Ms. Olender said the victim told them. The prosecutor recounted that based on interviews with the victim.

The Toyer youth told the Quinn youth to have sex with the girl and held the stall door, making it impossible for her to leave, Ms. Olender said.

The girl was forced to have sex and perform oral sex during the assault, Ms. Olender said.

Park employees walked into the bathroom and told the teens to leave. The boys fled and the victim was found on the floor, Ms. Olender said.

Before Judge Zemmelman imposed the sentence, defense Attorney Pete Boyer said the Toyer youth’s actions were not typical of his behavior.

“In the past 17 years, Kei’ron has made choices that led him on a path that has made him proud and made his parents proud,” Mr. Boyer said, adding that he does not have a prior criminal history.

Judge Zemmelman said she agreed that the teen’s actions appeared “out of character,” noting his spot on Southview’s football team.

“I don’t know what in the world possessed you to do this,” she said. “It sounds out of character for you. However, this is not just a sexual act, this is an act of violence against a young girl who has to live with this for the rest of her life. What you did has impacted another young boy who now finds himself with a rape delinquency finding.”

The Quinn youth pleaded guilty Nov. 13, as part of an agreement, to delinquency in the commission of rape. He is scheduled to be sentenced Monday.

The plea agreements were made in part to keep the victim from having to testify, Ms. Olender said.

After the Toyer youth’s appearance, his aunt, Regina Fisher, said she would have preferred her nephew go to trial. “He’s not what they painted him out to be,” she said. “He is the most kind and gentle creature you will ever meet.”